Women's hoops falls on road to Missouri

Published: Thursday, January 31, 2013 at 10:00 p.m.

Last Modified: Thursday, January 31, 2013 at 10:51 p.m.

COLUMBIA, Mo. — For the most part, Florida contained Missouri’s potent three-point attack, holding the nation’s third-best outside shooting team to seven treys. The Tigers, however, outscored the Gators 30-22 in the paint and handed Florida its fifth consecutive loss, 69-64.

The Gator’s struggle at the free throw line followed them to Mizzou Arena, where they hit just 13-of 24 from the stripe.

Jennifer George scored 11 of her team-high 13 points in the second half, when Florida was outscored 37-30, and hit only 11-of-34 from the floor.

Seven of UF’s eight games in the Southeastern Conference this year have been decided by eight points or less.

“Missouri answered each of our runs consistently throughout tonight’s game,” UF head coach Amanda Butler said. “When we made runs, they answered them with confidence and made the plays they expected to make. We’re lacking in that area. We have a consistency and reliability problem and it’s a bad time of year to be experiencing that because you’re going to play great teams every night and we good beat by a really good one today.”

Junior transfer Vicky McIntyre scored 12 points to match her Gator-career-high, while adding four rebounds and a pair of blocked shots.

“Vicky had a great night offensively,” Butler said. “I was really proud of Mac. She did her job and that’s one of the things we’ve been focused on the last couple of days.”

Playing its first ever game in the state of Missouri, the Gators (13-9, 2-6 SEC) rallied from a nine-point deficit with 7:02 remaining and tied the game with 1:36 to go, but couldn’t score the rest of the way as the Tigers (14-8, 3-5 SEC) took the first-ever meeting in the series.

<p>COLUMBIA, Mo. — For the most part, Florida contained Missouri's potent three-point attack, holding the nation's third-best outside shooting team to seven treys. The Tigers, however, outscored the Gators 30-22 in the paint and handed Florida its fifth consecutive loss, 69-64.</p><p>The Gator's struggle at the free throw line followed them to Mizzou Arena, where they hit just 13-of 24 from the stripe.</p><p>Jennifer George scored 11 of her team-high 13 points in the second half, when Florida was outscored 37-30, and hit only 11-of-34 from the floor.</p><p>Seven of UF's eight games in the Southeastern Conference this year have been decided by eight points or less.</p><p>“Missouri answered each of our runs consistently throughout tonight's game,” UF head coach Amanda Butler said. “When we made runs, they answered them with confidence and made the plays they expected to make. We're lacking in that area. We have a consistency and reliability problem and it's a bad time of year to be experiencing that because you're going to play great teams every night and we good beat by a really good one today.”</p><p>Junior transfer Vicky McIntyre scored 12 points to match her Gator-career-high, while adding four rebounds and a pair of blocked shots.</p><p>“Vicky had a great night offensively,” Butler said. “I was really proud of Mac. She did her job and that's one of the things we've been focused on the last couple of days.”</p><p>Playing its first ever game in the state of Missouri, the Gators (13-9, 2-6 SEC) rallied from a nine-point deficit with 7:02 remaining and tied the game with 1:36 to go, but couldn't score the rest of the way as the Tigers (14-8, 3-5 SEC) took the first-ever meeting in the series.</p>